Syrian President Bashar Assad announced during his speech delivered on Tuesday regarding the current unrest that the Syrians were able to dismantle the trap that the West wanted the country to fall in, adding that the current event affected everyone.
Assad called on the Syrian citizens to use their wisdom as the current events should be dealt with carefully to prevent mistakes. The Syrian President revealed that regional and international political powers are leading the attacks on Syria and creating misleading information.
“When I rule it is through the people's desire, and if I give up power it will also be through the people's desire”, President Assad was quoted as saying.
Assad, speaking in public for the first time since June last year, said that "foreign planning" was behind the uprising but that outside forces "did not find a foothold in the revolution that they had hoped for".
Assad added that his country will not "close doors" to Arab solutions to the 10-month crisis as long as "it respects Syria's sovereignty". However, he stated that the regime cannot be forced by the brunt of the crisis to accept just any solution or carry out reforms until the fact on the ground are dealt with.
Assad wondered how some Arab countries are with Syria at heart but against Syria in politics, adding that it is surprising how they [Arab countries] played all their cards at once at the wrong time.
Assad revealed that he was the one who suggested the deployment of Arab observers during his meeting with an Arab League delegation but no Arab country was interested back then.
“The Arab League can suspend Syria’s membership but it cannot suspend our Arab nationalism “, he said.
“Political reforms are not enough to solve the current problem; Syria will not accept any solution without knowing its clear outcome”.
Assad welcomed the idea of expanding the government to include "all political forces", adding that he expects a referendum on a new constitution to take place in March.
Our priority is to restore order in Syria which could only be achieved by "hitting terrorists with an iron fist."
"There is no tolerance with terrorism or with those who use weapons to kill", Assad was quoted as saying.
His speech at Damascus University was broadcast on Syrian television.